Walkman Hacks to Improve the Volume on Your Sony MP3 Player

written by: Misty Faucheux•edited by: Amy Carson•updated: 8/9/2011

Tired of the way that your Sony Walkman is working? Well, you can hack the device and change of the settings. This can improve the functioning of certain items, including the volume. But, there are dangers to hacking your device.

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Hacking the Walkman

When most of us think of the Sony Walkman, we think of the 80s tape players. But, Sony Walkman devices are still around, and they now let you play MP3s. These modern players look nothing like the original Sony Walkmans, but they serve the same purpose: listen to your favorite music.

However, you may want to adjust certain features on your Sony Walkman. Unfortunately, Sony doesn’t generally allow you to change their players. Instead, you have to take advantage of some Walkman MP3 player hacks to do this.

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Changing the Volume

One of the major complaints with all Sony MP3 players is the volume. You never seem to be able to get the volume loud enough to adequately hear the music. So, if you want to hear your music louder than the given volume, use the following directions:

Hold down the “Hold" button until the player moves into the hold mode.

Press and hold the “Link" button.

Hit the following buttons in this order:

Up

Down

Option

Up

Down

Right

Left

Right

Left

Play/Pause

Option

Now, hold down the “Hold" button again. This moves the player from the hold to the test mode.

Next, select the Right button. This brings up the menu.

Hit the Up/Down button until you see the word “Others".

Click on the Right button. This shows the next menu.

Hit the Up/Down button again. You should now see “SP Set".

Then, hit the Play/Pause button. Now, you see the “On/Off" option.

Select the Option button to select the “On/Off" option.

Hit Play/Pause again.

Finally, hold down the Back button for a couple of seconds. Let it go, and restart the player.

Your volume should now be louder.

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ATRAC Format

While the Walkman has been around forever it seems in some form or another, there aren’t a lot of hacks for this device. One of the problems is Sony’s proprietary ATRAC format. You must convert all MP3s into this format, and this is usually done via a MP3 conversion tool. It’s hard to hack this tool since you have to go through many lines of code to do it.

And, the problem with the ATRAC format is that once your files are converted, you can’t play them on other formats. Even advanced hackers have had issues adequately hacking this format.

But, you are welcome to attempt to change some lines of code, but it is labor-intensive. If you want to keep your MP3s the way that they are, get another type of player.

There is one final word of caution when it comes to hacking. Hacking your player could mess with how the player functions. Sony Walkman MP3 player hacks are not precise. You could crash your player. So, always back up the files before attempting any hacks. Also, you can also void your warranty. But, if you own an older model, go for it, especially if you are unhappy with things like the volume.